Never Given Easy
by ashion
Summary: G1/AU  Trust. Its something young Springer has never given to anyone. Rebellious, untamable and wild, that's how he lives and trust in anyone never factored into that. Not until now.
1. Chapter 1

_Yet another adopted LJ Bunny Farm bunny. This one belongs to__**outerelf**__ : Springer, when younger, was a rebellious hot streak. Untamed, and wild, he refused to believe others could be helpful out of the goodness of their sparks until the One Fateful Day. _

_Been sitting on this for a good 8 months, but finally got around to stop poking it and just post it._

_Although i selected Optimus Prime as a character tag, its actually Orion Pax... he's not Prime yet._

Joor: 1 hour

Orn: 1 day

Deca-cycle: 3 weeks

Orbital-cycle: about 1 month

As many things he did of late, it was a good idea at the time. Not so much now that he was running for his life!

The idea was to sneak in, steal a few energon cubes and sneak back out unnoticed. Simple right? The fact he had to try and show up his friends, who had called him a complete glitch CPU'd moron to his face for even thinking about the idea let alone trying to _convince_ them to go with him, just made him more determined to show them up. If it all worked out none of them would need to scrounge for energon for at least a full orbital-cycle. But of course it didn't exactly go that way.

First mistake: breaking into a large energon storage facility that was heavily guarded.

Second mistake: breaking into said storage facility in the middle of the day cycle, due to desperation, youthful impatience and the burning need to prove everyone wrong.

Third and final mistake: Forgetting to scout out said facility in advance thus not knowing about the highly sensitive laser trip alarms invisible to the average optic.

Now he found himself running empty handed, tired and his tanks painfully reminding him how empty they were with 3 large guard bots ready to beat his helm in if they caught him. He'd already managed to get away from the first guard who grabbed him by pulling some very under handed moves, but he seriously doubted it would work a second time.

Using his much smaller, lighter frame to full advantage he sprinted as fast as he could across the last few feet of open space before hitting the beginnings of the lower building district.

A laser shot scorched his leg just as he winged it around a sharp corner. He couldn't beat back the shriek of pain that escaped his vocals as he stumbled, landing face first on the hard ground.

He lay on his stomach a moment stunned from the impact, his leg and now his jaw throbbing painfully. He only got a few seconds to pull himself together before he heard the angry yells of the guards dangerously close. Gathering his wits and forcing himself back to his feet he limped as fast as he could weaving deeper and deeper through the alley ways into the darker lower levels of the city.

He didn't stop until he could no longer hear the guards, finally giving in to his fatigue and pain.

Slumping against the nearest wall he slid down until he was sitting curled up, vents panting hard to cool his over stressed systems, quietly cursing under his breath.

_If those stupid losers I called friends had bothered to help we could have easily made off with a few cubes, at least! Enough to last us a deca-cycle or more if we rationed but noooo, they had to be whiney little sparklings. Some friends they were, just proved they aren't worth my time… no one's worth my time…. Ha I don't need them… stupid glitches... I can do just fine, no better without them! They'll see_…

With that last thought his vision bled black as he slipped into an exhausted recharge.

Finishing up for the night at his second job, Orion Pax stood wiping off the last of the silly glittery metal flakes the femme's liked to decorating him with. They insisted it added a little bit of 'exotic flair' to his performance and helped the bad lighting to reflect better of the planes of his frame.

The stuff always left him with irritated and itchy joints until he got home for a decent shower. He personally found it all rather over the top as well, but he never could never say no. Seeing the normally rather hard edged, much older femme's optics light up with glee at such a simple thing as dressing him up for his performance and getting to fuss over him was something he wasn't about to begrudge them.

Collecting his small earnings and giving his goodnights to the other dancers and the bouncers he slipped quietly out the back entrance fully intending head home, relieve Ariel of sparkling sitting duty and get in as much recharge as he could managed before his shift at the docks started.

He'd barely gone a few paces before he nearly trips over something in the narrow alley way. Stumbling to regain his near lost balance Orion quickly turned to survey the normally empty area.

Resetting his optics a few times his focus quickly zeroed in on the form of small youngling loosely curled up and slumped over against the rough wall. _How strange. What's one so young doing alone out here_? Moving a little closer he could just pick out the various dents and scraps littering the younglings frame as well as a fresh laser burn marring one leg.

Being the deeply compassionate mech he was, he couldn't help but crouch down close to the youngling to better see him. Carefully reaching out Orion gently shook the small mech's shoulder.

"Hey, come on now young one. You can't recharge out here it's not safe. Come one now, wake up." For his effort all he received was a barely audible groan.

"Hey, come on young one. Wake up." He called louder in growing concern. The youngling flopped around as he was given a stiff shake, his head lolling back and forth before he sluggishly lifted it.

Optics flickering, lighting a dull blue, the youngling regarded Orion with an unfocused gaze. Groaning the youngling grumbled something about being left alone, that he didn't have anything. The youngling's optics flickered a few more times before dimming back out, his head rolling forward and body going lax.

Sighing Orion sat back on his heels analyzing the youngling much more closely. From what he could see the little mech was in a terrible state, plating dented, scrapped and layered with so much filthy it was difficult to see the original green and yellow tones. He could guess just from his response he must be terribly low on energon. He's seen many living homeless despite this being the so call 'golden age' of Cybertron, but he had never seen one this young alone on the streets.

_A run away maybe… no he looks like he's been without care a long time…he must be homeless. Dear Primus how can one this young be homeless even in these times!_ Gingerly reaching out he softly ran a blue hand over the dirty green helm.

Orion himself had to run two jobs just to make ends meet and provide for his little family, but he was happy with his lot in life. He was fully aware things weren't quiet as prosperous as they used to be, but still there were youngling care facilities all over the major cities. All setup to care for sparklings up to young adults of creators who couldn't look after their young for various reasons.

Looking over the loosely curled frame, his spark clenched painfully within its chamber. He really couldn't support another as well as himself and his sparkling in his current situation despite running two jobs, but he'd be damned to the pit to see one so young deactivate out here alone from starvation.

"Alright young one, you're coming home with me." Sliding strong arms around the tiny mech's shoulders and under his knees Orion easily hefted the youngling up off the ground.

Another incoherent spill of non-sense fell from lax lips as the youngling instinctively shifts to press closer to the warmth of the others chassis. Smiling softly Orion quickly set off for his small apartment mind already a buzz making plans and arrangements for his new guest.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

_Finally stopped poking this bit. Ended up breaking down what was a much larger chapter into 2. The other part I'm still working to actually finish it properly._

Joor: 1 hour

Orn: 1 day

Deca-cycle: 3 weeks

Orbital-cycle: about 1 month

Slowly rising from the black fog he'd fallen into two things quickly became apparent to the youngling.

One, he was warm and laying out on his back, covered by a large thermal sheet and two his jaw and leg barely hurt, his tanks feeling almost full. Where once there was a constant deep gnawing pain throughout his abdomen as his systems rigorously over processed what little fuel they contained there was now just a dull ache. If he were just a little less fuzzy headed right now, the warning bells would be have been going off.

Wriggling down deeper into the heavy weave of the thermal sheet, curling up into a tight ball he savored the warmth. For a few kliks he couldn't care less he was in a strange, unfamiliar place. He was warm, comfortable and didn't feel like moving until he had to.

Lazily peaking out from within his little thermal sheet cocoon he noticed he was in what appeared to be a small berth room, the berth itself big enough to accommodate a decent sized adult bot.

Scanning around the space he noted there were very few possessions. A couple of old data pads, some odd shaped crystals and a few holo-photo pads resided on high shelves well out of his reach. In the far corner sat a small plain metal box half filled with small scuffed educational blocks, a few badly dented and scratched youngling size data pads and a worn thermal blanket.

Nothing of real worth, but the place was very clean everything neatly stacked or folded.

The silence of the small dark room was broken by the muffled shriek of a sparkling. Immediately on alert he scrambled out from under the warm sheet darting under the berth, audio's already searching for the direction of the noise.

Listening intently, the horrid screeching coming from the other side of the berth-room door, he assessed the pitch and frequency of the sound. It wasn't a cry of distress or pain, more that of frustration. Carefully inching his way towards the closed door he presses firmly against it, wedging himself in just incase someone tried to force it open.

Curiosity tempered with wariness kept him still for several kliks. Processor kicked into high gear he took stock of his situation and surroundings the warnings starting to ringing in high strung his cortex. He didn't know where he was, how he got here, who brought him here or why.

Long honed self preservation and survival instincts were going crazy.

Should he run and hide, wait for an escape opportunity or stick his nose out and scope out the area first. Logic said someone must have brought him here and fed him for a reason and that someone had to be coming now that sparkling out there was screaming. _Bet they're gonna make me work for this. No one gives away anything without wanting something_.

He could hear someone, a mech he guesses by the pitch of the voice, on the other side cooing to the sparkling trying to calm it down with little success. Another voice, that of a femme soon joined them.

"You can't do this. You're barely making ends meet as it is." The femme stated loudly over the sparklings wailing.

"I know that, but I couldn't just leave him there to deactivate! No one deserves to starve til their spark extinguishes like that, especially one so young." There was a long pause filled by sound of rapidly pacing peds, the sparkling's wails stuttering down into loud snuffling.

Sighing the femme murmured, "Sometimes I swear your spark is too big for your own good Pax… Look I better get going before it gets too late and you need to get some recharge." There's a barely audible schlutch of metal stroking down metal followed by a sharp clang and a small surprised yelp from the femme.

"Roddi! Bad sparkling. You know not to kick bots." The mech snaps with little true anger, driving the sparkling to start bawling anew. "I'm sorry -"

The femme cuts him off "Ah, ah. It's alright Pax I think someone's just getting hungry and tired. I tried feeding him some normal energon earlier but he kept wanting the cube with yours in it. I still don't know how he can tell the difference." The femme sighs through her vents, a soft wispy noise muffled by the door.

"Look, don't hesitate to comm. me or Dion if he won't settle again. You know we don't mind taking him for you for the recharge cycle… and let us know if you need any help with your little guest." Is added in a low whisper, but he didn't miss a word of it.

"Yes I know thank you Ariel, but I think we'll be fine. I'll see you in the new rotation. Love you." A soft tittering giggle bubbled from the femme, "Love you too and you as well you little terror. Now you be good for your sire or no treats next time I sparkling sit." Just hearing the whole scene made the youngling want to gag, but he continued to listen through the door hearing the soft click of a femmes light peds walking away before a door whooshed open and closed.

Edging the door open he spotted average sized predominately red, mech with portions of soft indigo and white across his frame pacing back and forth in a small living area bouncing a cherry red, orange and grey sparkling in his arms. The little thing was back to screaming, damn near crying its vocals into static, limbs listlessly kicking and slapping at the adults plating.

"Hush, now sweet spark. I know you're hungry, but you can't just feed from me all the time, you need to have some normal energon too. You want to grow up to be a big mech don't you?" That only made it scream louder, stubby limbs flailing in a full blown tantrum.

"Quiet down, please. You'll wake our guest." He watched closely as the young mech softly cooed and coddled the wailing sparkling who seemed fit to continue with its angry tantrum.

Switching to scanning the small room it didn't take long for his wandering optics to notice the 2 nearly full energon cubes sitting on the little table not far away. His tanks rumbled at the sight. Checking them he finds they are 77% full, fuller than he can ever remember them being, but he was still very hungry. He'd learned to take what he could get when he could get it and this was a ripe opportunity.

Waiting till the mech's back was turned he darted from the room, jumping up on a chair quickly snatching one of the cubes before jumping down intent on bolting back to the room and jamming the door shut. A sudden firm hand on his shoulder drove a startled yelp from his vocals causing him to nearly drop his prize. Twisting viciously away he clutched the cube tight to his chest as he looked up into the soft, angular optics of the young adult mech.

_Slag, slag slag! I'm gonna get it! Gotta run, gotta run!_ The same mantra ran in loops over and over in his processor as he froze in place, optics franticly flitting around hunting for an exit. He didn't want to strike at a mech carrying a sparkling, but if it was his only means of escape he was ready to do anything.

"Oh, I'm sorry did I scare you? You know if you're hungry just say so, you don't need to grab like that." The mech spoke softly, vocals warm and friendly, small smile playing across his defined features.

The youngling found himself staring dumbly at the surprisingly friendly mech.

"Please sit down and drink, you must still be hungry." He nodded to the 4 chairs sitting around the small octagonal table while gently stroking the back of the once again loudly sniffling, but much calmer sparkling. "With the state you were in I only managed to give you ¼ of a cube. I was afraid it may back up in your intake if I gave you too much at once."

_Is this mech serious? What in the pit is going on here?_ Staying rooted in place he eyed the adult warily, optics scanning every inch of his face and posture looking for deception and noting all the open areas he could so easily hit and briefly disable them. _No one ever gives up anything without wanting something for it. Ever. They're trying to play me. They have to be…_

"How rude of me, I haven't introduced us. My designation is Orion Pax and this little one here is Hot Rod." The young mech, Orion Pax, tried to turn the sparkling to face the green youngling, but the little one was more interested in burying his face in the mech's neck, little fingers grabbing and tugging at armor plates. "What's your designation?"

He simply stared unbelieving at how disarmingly open and genial the mech was being despite not knowing a thing about him. Either he was an exceedingly good performer or incredibly naïve and easily trusting. He was starting to learn towards the later in that observation.

Eventually finding his vocalizer the youngling muttered, "Springer… everyone calls me Springer." Smiling Orion nodded. "Welcome to our small quarters Springer. Feel free to make yourself at home."

_You have seriously, seriously got to be kidding me_, Springer hissed internally, processor beginning to ache trying to understand the sweetly smiling mech before him.

TBC


End file.
